Driver with half a million illegal cigarettes on M6 spared immediate jail term
A man who was caught driving a van on a Black Country motorway, containing an illicit cargo of over half a million cigarettes, has been handed a suspended sentence.
Simon Hartley, of Batty Avenue, Barnsley, was stopped by police on the northbound carriageway of the M6, close to junction 10 for Wolverhampton on January 9. During a search of the van, officers discovered 655,000 Gold Mount cigarettes – on which duty of £158,000 had not been paid.
Police contacted HM Revenue and Customs, who arrested and questioned Hartley.
The unemployed 46-year-old gave a no-comment interview, and was later charged with the fraudulent evasion of excise duty on March 9.
Hartley pleaded guilty to the fraudulent evasion of excise duty at Manchester Crown Court on June 3.
He was sentenced to an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, 300 hours of unpaid work and also hit with a three-month curfew when he appeared before Manchester Crown Court on July 1. A spokesperson for HM Revenue and Customs said: "Tobacco fraud is a highly organised global crime, which costs the UK around £2.1 billion a year in lost taxes.
"It is theft from the taxpayer, and it undermines legitimate traders."
